Overworld - 16-Bit Tile-Placement & Exploration Boardgame

$49,371

1,448

Overworld is a competitive tile-placement, territory control, and exploration board game for 2-4 Players with a 1-player Solo Quest Variant! It was designed by Nemo Rathwald for ages 14+ and plays in about 30 minutes. The most beautiful thing about Overworld is its elegance in simplicity; it takes only 5 minutes to teach but mastery will only develop after many, many plays.

If you enjoy games like...

Carcassonne

Alhambra

Takenoko

Tsuro

Then Overworld should especially resonate with you!

In Overworld, players act as explorers piecing together bit by bit the map of the Overworld by placing specially designed interlocking tiles drawn from a bag onto an expanding world map and adding your explorer tokens onto any new tile you explore. The interlocking teeth will only allow you to place your tiles in legal locations, making gameplay very smooth and easy to learn. "IF IT FITS, IT'S LEGIT!"

Enclosed gaps will eventually form in the landscape, and in these gaps are where elusive Dungeons are discovered. Discover the Dungeons furthest apart from one another and control the most territory with your explorers riding Umbirds and Ships to win!

Overworld is the second installment of our Super Nano Enhanced Series, which began with Fire of Eidolon (shipping now worldwide!) This project will undergo several ENHANCEMENTS during the campaign which will upgrade the components and content of Overworld, and can be unlocked via Backer total Stretch Goals, Funding Stretch Goals, and Social Media goals, which will all be explained in detail below.

EVERY BACKER MAKES A DIFFERENCE! Overworld is mechanically like a Euro-game but is also highly thematic and heavily inspired by the 16-bit era of Role Playing and Adventure video games of the 1990's. It is visually stimulating and loaded with stylistic parody and in-jokes that fans of retro videogames will appreciate while still being accessible and wholly enjoyable by everyone all within a unique, original, and compelling game that stands entirely on its own. We started the Super Nano Enhanced Series with Fire of Eidolon and we continue the tradition as you explore that world in ages past...in Overworld!

Overworld came to Magic Meeple Games as a fully complete publish-ready game called Mirage which had been nearly published by another company before coming to us at Origins a couple years ago. We absolutely loved Mirage and saw an opportunity to re-theme the game to fit into our Super Nano Enhanced Series. With a new title and theme, Overworld has been under iteration and development for years and we feel it is finally ready for everyone to enjoy!

Easy to learn and teach, difficult to master, immersive theme, and a new board every time you play!

Here are some of the features you'll find in this game and in our Kickstarter campaign:

Great Gameplay! - High praise from reviewers, gamers, convention-goers of all ages for Overworld!

High Replayability! - Overworld uses a brand new PUZZELOCK TILE SYSTEM and is never the same game twice! Procedurally generate the world as you play to make every game a brand new story!

High Accessibility! - Overworld uses a very simple set of rules has an extremely gentle learning curve and is extremely easy to pick up and play! The game can be taught in about FIVE MINUTES and after playing a few times will players begin to understand the depth that Overworld offers!

Backer-only Discounts! - After all Enhancements from this campaign, Overworld will have an MSRP of at least $35.99. Our Backers can get it right now for just $25 no matter how much content is added on through Enhancements and Stretch Goals! That's a savings of nearly $11 per copy!

ENHANCEMENTS! Stretch Goals! Achievements! - Your pledge WILL make the game better! Together we will make it awesome! Every backer matters!

Interactive Kickstarter campaign - Throughout the campaign we will make decisions about Enhancements and features based on the feedback YOU provide in our update polls! Leave your mark on tabletop gaming history!

Simplest Bundle Pricing on KickStarter! - Order as many copies of Overworld as you want at $25 each and pay shipping only for the first one! Just add $25 per extra copy and enter the total at the pledge confirmation screen. Boom. Done. No spreadsheets. No tricks.

Customer Support - It is our duty and honor to put your concerns at ease throughout the ENTIRE production process. Frequent updates during the campaign and no less than one update a month post-campaign until delivery. If you have a question or just want to say hello, reach out to us!and now for something NEW:

MONEY-BACK SATISFACTION GUARANTEE - We're borrowing a page from Stonemaier Games and offering a Money-back guarantee with the Overworld project! Within one month of receiving Overworld, if you're unhappy with the product and customer service you've received, just send the game back to us and we'll issue a full refund of your original pledge!

Super Nano Enhanced Series games undergo many ENHANCEMENTS throughout the campaign, many are achieved like normal Stretch Goals, but some are special and will require involvement in the comments or on social media!

Add Explorers to the Tile you added (one per segment, Umbirds for land, Ships for Sea)

Resolve Gaps! (Check for Dungeon discoveries!)

Just how easy is it to play Overworld? Have a look!

The game will begin with a single Coastline Tile on the board. Begin your turn by drawing a Land Tile from the bag.

You may choose to place the tile LAND side up or SEA side up, as long as there is a place to connect it where the teeth fit without obstruction. IF THE TEETH FIT, IT'S LEGIT!

After placing a Land Tile, place three of your Explorer tokens on it, Umbird tokens explore LAND, and Ship tokens explore SEA. Each player gets seven of both to Explore the Overworld!

Yellow's turn is over, play continues in this way as Red and White each get a turn...until a gap is created into which no other tile can fit, then a Dungeon is discovered!

Dungeons are Discovered by counting up all of the Explorer tokens belonging to each player in all regions connected ORTHOGONALLY to the gap. Yellow has the most Explorers connected to this gap and gets to claim the Dungeon discovery.

Explorer tokens (Umbirds or Ships) that are used to Discover a Dungeon (i.e. those belonging to the player that had the most and placed their dungeon door in the gap) are returned to that player to be used again, the others stay on the board!

Take note that player White placed the tile that gave player Yellow that Dungeon! This is a very important tactic that you will need to deprive your opponents of territory!

If there is a tie, the player who placed the tile gets to decide who breaks the tie and gets the Dungeon Discovery.

Play continues until no more tiles remain in the bag, then scoring begins.

END OF GAME

You collect points for the Explorer tokens you still have in play, and the total distance of the shortest path (in Orthogonal spaces) around all of your Dungeon doors in play, door-to-door-to-door. Like this:

4x Quick-Reference/Faction Cards - Poker-Sized Cards - Never forget a rule or which color belongs to which player with these handy Quick-Reference/Faction cards! THANK YOU TO OUR DAY-1 BACKERS!

1x Tile Bag - For randomization of tiles, through Enhancement goals, this could become a luxurious drawstring cloth bag with an embroidered design!

Extra Zip-Lock Baggies - To carry everything and keep it organized!

EXPANSION CONTENT PLANNED - To be revealed via Stretch Goal Enhancements. Planned content includes: Solo play and more than one Mini-Expansion!

BONUS! Every copy of Overworld sold here will include an exclusive promo for our previous project, Fire of Eidolon! Thank you to all of the backers that helped us get here today!!

Throughout the campaign we will add additional goals to meet beyond our base funding goal. Each of those goals we achieve will add another ENHANCEMENT to Overworld. Some of these Enhancements will behave like traditional Stretch Goals which most are familiar with, but some will be different and put more focus on Backer Participation.

There are several ways to help support the Overworld project, here is more information about each available Pledge level to help you decide how you can support our project!

Not enough Reviews for you? Decide for yourself if Overworld is for you: download our FREE preview print&play kit and try before you buy!

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

The best thing you can do to help improve Overworld is to back our project. The SECOND best thing you can do to help Overworld is to spread the word and share our campaign on all of your favorite Social Media sites! Here are some fun social media avatars you can use to help express your fandom! Collect them all!

Adding additional copies of Overworld to your Pledge will not incur additional shipping charges in this campaign. Add $25 to your Pledge for each extra copy if our built-in Pledge levels do not suit your needs. We will discount every pledge down to charging shipping on only the first copy of Overworld in each order!*

Rewards for this project will be shipped primarily from the USA. Distributor/Manufacturer may collaboratively ship some rewards from other countries to save on shipping and customs costs. For the Fire of Eidolon project, we ultimately opted for a combination effort using Amazon and SFC (Ship from China) as many highly successful Kickstarter projects have done and the results have been favorable!

Rather than lock ourselves in to a specific method of shipping, we analyze the order distribution at the time of manufacturing to find the most cost-effective and time-effective distribution options available to us. This is our commitment to you in our goal for constant process-improvement and to provide the best possible products that we can!

*Shipping price is for delivery of one entire order to a single address.

Residents of Brazil, Russia, and South America take note: to ensure your package is delivered, additional charges may be required to ensure delivery verification in certain regions of these countries. If these additional charges are not paid, the chances of lost packages in those regions increases sharply and our distributor is attempting to implement solutions to this problem. If you reside in any of these countries please inquire about your pledge before the end of the campaign as the $20 basic shipping charge cannot guarantee delivery in these countries.

Regarding Customs: Our shipping partners offers what they call "Customs-Friendly Worldwide Shipping" meaning they coordinate all transport, customs clearance, and brokerage from the factory to the destination using shipping depots all around the world. They have already laid the groundwork to ensure all packages will make it to backers in every country as smoothly and inexpensively as possible. If any VAT taxes or customs fees would apply to your order, we make sure those are pre-paid to make it easier for YOU!

While we cannot personally guarantee that no single person will have any customs difficulties on an individual level, we are confident in our ability to mitigate any potential issues and keep surprise costs far away from our backers and their ability to make it right should any such problems arise. We have had very few individual cases of customs difficulties and the processes have improved even more since those challenges have occurred. If all of our efforts still do not meet your expectations, you are still protected by our Money-Back guarantee! Pledge with Confidence!

Delivering your reward responsibly

Our primary goal and responsibility as Magic Meeple Games is to deliver the rewards that our backers pledge for, at the level of quality they expect, and as quickly as possible. Magic Meeple Games and its partners have years of collective experience overseeing planning and production to ensure Overworld well be delivered to all backers in a timely manner.

So far, Magic Meeple Games has produced and shipped two feature projects. Darkrock Ventures, which has fully fulfilled; and Fire of Eidolon which has been partially fulfilled already and will complete fulfillment before this Kickstarter campaign is complete.

We have run into slight speedbumps with each of these projects which hinged on the final completion of graphics. We can be proud of the fact the amount of delay was reduced dramatically with the fulfillment of FoE as compared to DRV, but we can do better. This time, we have a fully graphic-designed rulebook completed IN ADVANCE for everyone to enjoy which means we won't be waiting on it before manufacturing. This project focuses on the physical components of the game and less on artwork, this will also help us accelerate our manufacturing process and get the game made that much faster.

In fact, it is our goal to enter manufacturing on this project by October, and ALREADY have prepared art, graphics, and rules all in advance to make this a realistic goal. We are challenging ourselves to make Overworld our best-record for delivery, we have laid out even more groundwork ahead of time and together we can make this possible! Thank you for your support!

We do not plan to use use the built-in survey system for the Overworld Campaign, after the Kickstarter campaign ends, we will use PledgeManager to manage your orders and give everyone one last opportunity to add on to their pledge. There are no separate or hidden Add-Ons during the Kickstarter campaign, only the pledge levels.

If you'd like to add additional copies of the game to your pledge beyond what is available in the reward tiers, or if you would like access to the special FoE Backer price on our previous projects, Fire of Eidolon and Darkrock Ventures, you will be able to do so within PledgeManager after this Kickstarter campaign ends. (PledgeManager will charge backers separately for any additional products added beyond what was pledged for in the Kickstarter.)

Seven hundred playtests. Two laser cutters. Twelve BoardGameGeekGold. Six Pez dispensers. The heat of a thousand suns. Boardgame designer Nemo Rathwald has most of these things.

Nemo's game design goals are:

Interesting choices

Little downtime

Lots of gameplay from as few rules as possible

Multiple viable paths to victory

Components that physically don't let you break rules, so you don't have to remember them.

Nemo started searching the shelves for boardgames which turned out to only exist in his imagination. So he started making them so he could play them. He got into game design in 2003, at the first Penguicon (a convention of all geeky interests) and has been helping to run the convention ever since, where he playtests new board games of his own design every year.

In 2010, Nemo discovered i3Detroit hackerspace, a nonprofit community workshop with an educational mission in art and technology, where he volunteers as a Board Director, an Officer, and an Instructor. There, he upgraded his ability to make lavish show-stopping board game prototypes. Due to his experience in publishing, he fully illustrates and preps his games and rulebooks for pre-press in advance. In 2013 he changed careers from graphic design to web development. In 2014 he signed his first board game publishing contract at Protospiel, a convention for board game designers.

Nemo Rathwald carries a wheeled suitcase of board games in the trunk of his car at all times.

Here is an unboxing video of our last production, Fire of Eidolon, so you can see the standard of quality we aim for with our projects!

Magic Meeple Games, LLC. is a tabletop publishing company based in Phoenix, Arizona. By gamers, for gamers, we are Magic Meeple the Boardgame People!

Founded, co-owned, and operated by a husband/wife team; We are passionate, lifelong tabletop gamers and we want to show that passion through the games we choose to design, develop, and publish. In our first campaign, Gamelyn Games partnered with us to elevate Magic Meeple Games to their level of quality and customer satisfaction straight out of the gate and we upheld that standard as we moved forward with our first solo campaign, Fire of Eidolon!
Now we return for our THIRD Kickstarter project with hopefully many more to come.

Magic Meeple Games origins began in the industry in 2007 through independent game design, company co-owner Ian Stedman is a published designer himself and has worked on several projects for several other publishing companies as a consultant and designed Magnum Opus for Clever Mojo Games.

This is the third core entry into our publishing catalog, and we drawn from the experience of designers, developers, publishers, distributors, manufacturers, and retailers all over the world. We would not ask for your pledges if we were not confident in our ability to fulfill the obligations we have set forth for ourselves. We have worked hard to hone our craft and learn everything necessary to produce quality games at competitive prices and at last we have the tools we need to do so. Now, we need your help to make it all real!
Our customers are our #1 focus and we are honor-bound to provide the most friendly & prompt service and communication we possibly can.

Images/components shown of the games are subject to change per manufacturer's requirements, and the publisher's options for what is in the best interest of the game and the backers. Magic Meeple Games is not affiliated directly or otherwise with Nintendo, Sega, or Square Enix. Any apparent similarities between imagery and concepts contained within Overworld and those belonging to a copyrighted property is parody. Overworld is an independent board game production inspired by 1990's-era console video games of the Adventure / Role-Playing genre. Overworld is not a video game. Overworld is not based on any specific video game in particular. All Artwork contained in Overworld are original commissions owned by Magic Meeple Games. Some pre-production and playtesting content may contain temporary placeholder imagery that will not appear in the final physical product which this campaign is meant to promote.

Risks and challenges

The publication of a board game like Overworld is a complicated, time consuming, and expensive process. It is prone to many surprises and problems, even for experienced publishers.

We co-published our first project, Darkrock Ventures, with the collaboration of the exceptionally experienced Gamelyn Games, and that project was a SUCCESS. Our first solo project, Fire of Eidolon was also a SUCCESS. We at Magic Meeple Games are proud to say that we are prepared for the task at hand and have even more experience and knowledge in our corner with successful fulfillment of board game projects.

Our previous project fell a couple months short of our target Shipping date, and we have identified several contributing factors to that delay and have actively made improvements in our process to prevent the likelihood of such delays happening again.

For this project, we are focusing on a game which came to us very much complete. Additional features have been added and small tweaks have been made here and there, but suffice to say, the game is already finished and manufacturing-ready. All that is left is to put in the add-on content that is unlocked in the campaign, update the already designed fully-graphical rulebook (something that has been a challenge in the past) and send off the files. We have never been in a better position to go straight-to-print.

We are also expanding our horizons as we seek manufacturing and distribution, we are adapting to find better solutions to save time and money, this began by working with Discover Gaming Fulfillment with the distribution of Fire of Eidolon. Thanks to them, most of our backers have already gotten their rewards!

During the manufacturing of Darkrock Ventures there was a technology failure that caused a delay that we could not control. This is just an example as things such as this cannot be helped no matter how prepared you may be. No project is immune to the possible mishap, but this road is familiar to us, our distributors, and our manufacturers and we are confident in our ability to deliver our products to our backers and fans.

Support

Select this reward

Pledge US$ 1 or more
About US$ 1.00

Show your Support for Overworld!

[INSERT COIN]

We understand that sometimes backers want to show their support and receive updates but aren't sure what level they'll be able to afford when the campaign ends. You can play the free Print-N-Play (links in the campaign description) and select your best option without missing any project updates or backer polls!

Select this level if you want to consider your options later on, or if you just want to put a tip in the jar!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge US$ 45 or more
About US$ 45

Overworld + Name Your Factions!

[PLEASE INPUT A NAME...]

This Pledge Level includes one copy of Overworld with all unlocked Enhancements and Stretch Goals.

We will ALSO send you a set of FOUR Customized Faction/Quick Reference cards with names YOU CHOOSE! These cards will undergo all of the same Enhancements (size, cardstock, etc.) as the cards from the final version of Overworld, but they will be sent EARLY so you can enjoy them with the Print&Play even before Overworld arrives at your door!

Names will be gathered via Google forms survey after the Kickstarter campaign ends.

Want additional copies of Overworld? Just add $25 to your Pledge for each additional copy at the confirmation screen. Add $45 more for a second copy along with another set of Custom Faction/Quick-Reference Cards!

Shipping: FLAT RATE: US +$5, Rest of World! +$10*

Whether ordering 1 or 100 copies, flat rate means no limit!

(*Residents of Brazil, Russia, and South Africa may be subject to additional charges to guarantee delivery in certain circumstances based on regional factors.)

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A KICKSTARTER LIMITED-EXCLUSIVE ITEM THAT WILL NOT BE MADE AGAIN, ONLY FOR BACKERS OF THIS CAMPAIGN!

Pledge US$ 85 or more
About US$ 85

Overworld + Adopt an UMBIRD

This Pledge Level includes one copy of Overworld with all unlocked Enhancements and Stretch Goals.

We will ALSO send you a set of FOUR Customized Faction/Quick Reference cards with names YOU CHOOSE! As shown in the "Name Your Factions" Pledge Level.

You will also have the honor of naming one of the games 28 massive flightless birds, referred to by the explorers as "Umbirds" in the rulebook and YOU will receive credit as an Honorary Producer of the Overworld project!

Names will be gathered via Google forms survey after the Kickstarter campaign ends.

Want additional copies of Overworld? Just add $25 to your Pledge for each additional copy at the confirmation screen. Add $45 more for a second copy along with another set of Custom Faction/Quick-Reference Cards!

Shipping: FLAT RATE: US +$5, Rest of World! +$10*

Whether ordering 1 or 100 copies, flat rate means no limit!

(*Residents of Brazil, Russia, and South Africa may be subject to additional charges to guarantee delivery in certain circumstances based on regional factors.)

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A KICKSTARTER LIMITED-EXCLUSIVE ITEM THAT WILL NOT BE MADE AGAIN, ONLY FOR BACKERS OF THIS CAMPAIGN!

Pledge US$ 85 or more
About US$ 85

Overworld + Christen a SHIP

This Pledge Level includes one copy of Overworld with all unlocked Enhancements and Stretch Goals.

We will ALSO send you a set of FOUR Customized Faction/Quick Reference cards with names YOU CHOOSE! As shown in the "Name Your Factions" Pledge Level.

You will also have the honor of naming one of the games 28 massive sailing ships in the rulebook and YOU will receive credit as an Honorary Producer of the Overworld project!
(There can be only one Boaty McBoatface!)

Names will be gathered via Google forms survey after the Kickstarter campaign ends.

Want additional copies of Overworld? Just add $25 to your Pledge for each additional copy at the confirmation screen. Add $45 more for a second copy along with another set of Custom Faction/Quick-Reference Cards!

Shipping: FLAT RATE: US +$5, Rest of World! +$10*

Whether ordering 1 or 100 copies, flat rate means no limit!

(*Residents of Brazil, Russia, and South Africa may be subject to additional charges to guarantee delivery in certain circumstances based on regional factors.)

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A KICKSTARTER LIMITED-EXCLUSIVE ITEM THAT WILL NOT BE MADE AGAIN, ONLY FOR BACKERS OF THIS CAMPAIGN!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge US$ 140 or more
About US$ 140

Overworld Merchant

[AVAILABLE AT FINE ITEM SHOPS EVERYWHERE!]

Overworld x7 (+1 Demo copy for FLGS)

This one is for all of our Friendly Local Game Stores! You are a staple of our industry and it is our honor to help you brave ladies and gentlemen keep your doors open so we gamers have places to meet and play!

Use this pledge level to order and pay for SEVEN copies of Overworld at a $16 discount off MSRP each and pay shipping only for one copy.

After the Campaign ends, we will reach out to you to verify your type of business. Brick and Mortar board game product retailers will also be sent an additional copy of Overworld for free to use as a demo copy for your store for a total of EIGHT.

(get a $288 retail value and pay less than half!)

This Pledge Level is also open and available to boardgaming Cafes, Clubs, Educators, Police/Fire/Military, and Non Profit Organizations.

Each copy includes ALL unlocked Enhancements and Stretch Goals.

(Backers that fail to verify retail store ownership will be sent seven copies of Fire of Eidolon as if they were standard pledges)

Shipping: FLAT RATE: US +$5, Rest of World! +$10*
(*Residents of Brazil, Russia, and South Africa may be subject to additional charges to guarantee delivery in certain circumstances based on regional factors.)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $500 or more
About $500

Name a Faction + Advance Copy

[BECOME A LEGENDARY EXPLORER!]

You will receive one AUTOGRAPHED, ADVANCE copy of Overworld.

Additionally, you will also be granted the honor of naming one of the game's four Factions, help design its sigil for the Reference/Faction cards, and be listed in the rulebook as an Honorary Producer in our Champions of Overworld section of the Rulebook in EVERY final copy of the game.

(Add +$25 for each additional copy of Overworld you would like to receive for no additional shipping)

Faction color selection is based on a first-come-first served basis, so don't wait! Please see Overworld Content Naming details in the project description for more information.